Flying Start Books have been publishing quality early literacy books for 25 years. Extensively sold around the globe, the Red Rocket Readers have helped millions of children learn to read. This award-winning series has more than 900 titles and counting, also available digitally on many international platforms.
A leading brand in China, the Red Rocket Readers series is the 3rd most popular home-reading programme. Red Rocket Readers are available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Red Rocket™ Decodable Explorers offer a structured literacy approach. Students will grow in confidence as they progress from the first book to the last, acquiring new skills and putting them to work in an authentic way.
The Red Rocket™ Phonics collection introduces 144 new Decodable Explorers – engaging fiction and non-fiction texts aligned with the Letters & Sounds scope and sequence. These readers provide meaningful practice that engages students and builds their confidence. They are ideal for whole-class explicit instruction, as well as independent and take-home reading.
For students with secure phonics knowledge, the Fluency strand of Decodable Explorers offer additional decodable reading practice to develop fluency, prosody, pace and comprehension.
All Red Rocket Readers follow a clear progression of skills, with just the right level of challenge to build confidence, enjoyment, and success in every stage of the reading journey.
An award-winning comprehensive series of over 700 levelled reading books. Offering a carefully controlled sequence of challenges throughout the levels.
Red Rocket Readers–
- ensure that students progress with confidence and enthusiasm.
- enable students to read for enjoyment and information as they access meaning from text.
- feature meaningful concepts and experiences that children can relate to.
- develop word recognition along with language development.
- focus on increasing knowledge of print conventions, phonological patterns and phonic knowledge in context.
- develop and ensure the success of reading strategies.
A selection of 32 bestselling Red Rocket Readers are now available in te reo Māori, forming the starting line up of Flying Start Books’ te reo Māori library. Rather than simple translation, each title has been lovingly and carefully retold by Tiare Dickson, reworking and rewriting as needed to ensure an authentic adaptation. The new series is ideal for Māori-speaking students learning to read with guided reading or small group instruction, as well as for young readers first exploring te reo Māori. Teacher lesson preparation tools and downloadable resources are all available in te reo Māori as well, offering support for bilingual and immersion classrooms. Ebook editions are available with each title.
A selection of 16 Red Rocket Readers has been skillfully adapted into Spanish by experienced early reading specialist, Annette Torres Elias. Designed to support both Spanish-speaking ELL students and young readers first exploring Spanish, they feature the use of controlled natural language, reinforced by high-impact photographs and bright, entertaining illustrations. Ebook editions are available with each title.
Featured authors
Pam Holden
Series consultant and author of the Red Rocket Readers series, Pam Holden has more than 30 years specialist experience in literacy. As a Reading Recovery teacher, she has worked one-to-one with hundreds of children struggling with literacy. Pam’s pupils have also included those approaching English as a second language, and children who are advanced and require extension. This experience has given Pam a rare insight into the literacy process and has enabled her to identify many key elements that consistently block children’s progress, and develop leveled texts specifically for guided reading, Reading Recovery and other interventions.
Tiare Dickson
Born and raised in Tauranga Moana, Tiare Dickson is a multi-medium artist who uses taa moko, painting, woodwork and digital art to express his creativity and culture. He holds a Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts and a Masters of Professional Creative Practice and has worked as a teacher aide at immersion secondary schools. Tiare is the grandson of Red Rocket Readers series creator, Pam Holden, and the inspiration for Charlie, a popular character in Pam’s stories that are often based on true events. As well as creating the te reo Māori series of Red Rocket Readers, Tiare is also an illustrator for some Red Rocket titles.
